Fence-stay



(No Model.)

J. S. MARTIN. FENCE STAY.

No. 564,439. Patented July 21,1896.

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UNITED STATES p PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN S. MARTIN, OF BAUGI-IMAN, OHIO.

FENCE-STAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 564,439, dated July 21, 1896.`

Application led October 9, 1895..

YSerial No. 565,113. (No model.)

To all 14172/0771/ it may 0072/061171,.-

Be it known that I, JOHN S.MARTIN, of Baughinan township, in the county of Wayne and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Fence-Stay, of `which. the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the stays or braces used to space apart and support the runners or strands of a wire fence, and has for its bject to provide stays in link form, that when secured in place will retain the fence-wires in spaced condition and adapt them to resume their norm al position when pressed upon laterally or upon the upper strand of the fence, a further object being to prevent displacement ofthe stays by providing simple means for retaining them spaced apart on the y fence-panel.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts,as is hereinafter described, and indicated in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side view of an end portion of a wire fence and one complete fence-stay applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the upper portion of a wire fence, substantially on the line 2 2 in Fig. 1, showing the improvement in part as applied to the fence-wires. Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of the improved fence-stay in position on portions of two fencewires; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side view of a fence-panel and of the improved fencestay, showing a modified means for securing the stay-links from shifting on the fencewires.

The end portion of a wire fence (shown to illustrate the application of the improvement to such a fence) comprises a series of fencewires 10, that are secured by one end on the post 11, it being obvious that in the construction of a line of the fence a suitable number of posts 11 are to be provided, which when erected at proper intervals will support the wires 10', that are thereto secured by any approved means. The fence wires may be stretched taut by nuts 12, engaging the ends of the said wires that project through the post 11 at the end of a panel, as indicated in Fig. 1, or by any other available or preferred means. A

At proper intervals of separation the improved fence-stays are secured on the fencewires 10, one stay being shown as thereto applied in Fig. 1, and as represented in the drawings, said improvement comprises a series of wire links, which are locked to each other and to the fence-wires, as will presently be explained.

At suitable points the upper and lower fence-wires 10 of a panel are bent to form opposite single kinks or substantially U-shaped undulations 18 in said wires that project toward each other, these formations in the fence-wires being provided to prevent the fence brace or stay from being accidentally moved from its proper position along the wires.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the upper portion of the novel fence-stay which extends between the upper and adjacent wires of the fencepanel consists of a wire strand 14, that is bent to form a loop a at one end of a link that is open at the opposite end.

The length of the two members of the upper link 14 is so proportioned that the open link may be located on the second wire of the fence and its members extended toward the upper wire and wrapped at their ends b around the latter, so as to occupy the kink 13 therein, which will retain the said ends in position, with the body of the link depending and its bight or looped end ct in contact with and susstaining the fence-wire below and next to the upper wire. The stay-link 15 next in series is formed oblong, with its ends both looped, and the terminations of the wire strand comprising the link left uncoupled until the link is placed in position, to effect which one member of the link is passed over the second fencewire 10, considered from the top of the fence,

and through the link a of the upper link 14,-

the remaining member of the oblong loop 15 being hooked around the third fence-wire from the top of the panel, so that the terminations h of the link 15 may be twisted or hooked together and thus close the link, the length of which adapts it to engage its looped ends with the second and third fence-wires, counting from the top of the fence. The remaining stay-links 1G to 20, inclusive, (shown IOO in Fig. 1,) are formed and applied to the fence wires that lie between the third wire from the top of the fence and the lowermost fence-Wire of the series, and of said links each engages the two adjacent fence-wires to be supported and the looped end of the link next above it in precisely the same manner as has been eX- plained with regard to the link l5, so that there is an interlocking connection of the ends of the successive links effected, as well as a supporting engagement of said stay-links with the fence-wires.

It will be seen that the lower link 2l of the fence-stay device is essentially similar in form to the upper link 14 and in a like manner hooks over the fence-wire next to the lowermost one of the panel, its looped end also inelosing the looped end of the stay-link 20. The extremities of the lower link 2l are wrapped around the kink 13 of the lowermost fence-wire, and in this manner coact with the wrapped ends of the upper link 14 to hold the complete fence-stay in place on the fencepanel.

If the several links of the fence-stay are correctly proportioned in length, it will be evident that the wrapping of the ends of the links 1l and 2l on the upper and lower fencewires, respectively, will draw the fencestay taut and correctly space the several runners or longitudinal wires l0 of a fencepanel, and if a suitable number of the fence-stays is provided, and located at correct intervals where kinks 13 are produced in the upper and lower wires of the fence-panel, the wire fence will be rendered strong and capable of resisting lateral pressure on either side between the posts of a panel.

ln Fig. Il means are shown for retaining the fence-stay at a desired point on a fencepanel, these consisting oi' a wire strand wrapped on each fence-wire so as to form loops O0 which interlock with the looped ends of the stay-links, and as the end portions of the said strands are forcibly wound on the fence-wires it will be seen that they serve to prevent sliding movement of the fence-stay on the fence-panel- From the peculiar construction of the improved fence-stay a limited amount of elasticity is given to the same at the interlocked connections of its links with each other and with the fence-wires, so that pressure which would bend and permanently distort a fence having rigid fence-stays will be counteracted, and the fence will regain its normal straight condition after it is relieved from pressure applied at either side or on top of the same.

The extreme simplicity, ease oi' application, and eheapness of construction are manifest features of advantage pertaining to the improved fence-stay.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A fence having running wires, the uppermost andlowermost wires of which are formed with kinks bent ,inwardly toward the center of the fence, an end link for each uppermost and lowermost running wire, the links respectively being bent between their terminals to embrace the adjacent running wire and having their terminals coiled within the kinks of the respective uppermost and lowermost running wires, and a series of intermediate links, said links being each formed of a length of Wire7 the terminals of which are joined to each other between the respective running wires and the ends of the links embracing the adjacent running wires and interlocking with the ends of the contiguous links, substantially as described.

JOHN S. MARTIN. Titnessesz XVILLIAM N. HEMPERLY, ROBERT W. MGGAUGHEY. 

